Embodiments of the invention pertain to the field of data analysis generally, and more specifically to the automated discovery of implied relationships between entities based on events over time. In investigative endeavors, such those often occurring in law enforcement or other security fields, it is often helpful to determine relationships between entities. Such entities might be people, for example. If one person is a suspect in a crime, then determining other people who are related to that person in some way might help investigators to obtain more information about the crime or the suspected person. Such other people might be able to provide that information if questioned. Such other people might, themselves, be involved in the crime. Sometimes, relationships are express. For example, if a man has a brother, then that man and his brother are involved in an express familial relationship. If a man works in the same office as another man, then those man are involved in an express employment-based relationship.
Those who are involved in crimes or other misbehavior often actively seek to conceal their relationships to others who might be able to provide information about them or their activities. Two or more people who conspire to commit a crime, such as an act of terrorism, for example, might not have any express relationship that is easily determinable. Co-conspirators might never meet with or communicate directly with each other. Co-conspirators might not even know each other's identities in some cases. Under such circumstances, investigators might be hampered by a lack of express relationships on which to base their investigative efforts.